TheSNL Eastern European Bank index bucked the wider trend on the continent in thefirst half, posting a rise of nearly 24%.

Theother seven European indexes, including those for western Europe and Europe as awhole, all fell on a total-return basis during the half. The SNL Nordic Bankindex was the only one of the seven to post a single-figure percentage loss.

Theeastern European index includes 73 banks from 12 countries. has the highestweighting in the index, at 29.4%; it generated a total return of more than 33%during the first half.